Machine for making mattresses.



No. 652,735. Patented July 3, I900;

, H. P. & N. FJDAVISS.

MACHINE FOR MAKING MATTRESSES.

(Application filed Jan. 23, 1900.

3 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

W i 1 gesscs- 2 t e e h S m s t 9 e h S 3 Patented July 3, I900.

H. P. &. N. F. DAVISS.

(Application flled Jan. 23, 1900.)

MACHINE FOR MAKING MATTBESSES.

(No Model.)

y g; flbgzys,

YHE NORMS PETERS CO PHQTDMTHD WASNINGYGN, O C

No. 552,755. -Pat5nted July 3, I900.

H. P. 81. N. F. DAV ISS. MACHINE FOR MAKING MATTBESSES.

(Application filed 23, 1900.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

THE NGRRIS PETERS co, wowumou wnsumawu, D. c

UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

HORATIO PAXTON DAVISS AND NAT FIELDS DAVISS, on Houston, rExAs.

MACHINE FOR-MAKING MATTRESSES SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent N0. 652,75 5, dated nly 3,1900. 1 7

Application filed January 2 3, 1900. Serial No. 2,531. (No modeld To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HORATIO PAXTON DAVISS and NAT FIELDs DAVISS,citizens of the United States, residing at Houstom'in the county ofHarris and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Machine forMaking Mattresses, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention is an improved machine for making mattresses oflint-cotton and the like material, the object of the invention being toprovide an eflicient, cheap, simple, and easilyoperated machine forcompressing material, as lint-cotton or the like, into a bat or felt ofthe desired size and thickness of a mattress and to feed the said feltor bat into the tick or covering of the mattress, thereby greatlylessening the cost and labor of making such mattresses.

With this object in view ouri-nvention consists in the combination, withacompressing box or compartment having a bottom with a sliding ormovable surface, of a follower which is adapted to be run into the boxor compartment above the material therein and having a sliding ormovable lower surface and means for compressing said follower on thematerial in the said box or compartment to convert the same into a feltor bat.

Our invention further consists in the combination,with a press box orcompartment, of a follower, means for operating the follower, and meansfor ejecting the compressed material from the press-box while undercom-t pression.

Our invention further consists in the peculiar construction andcombination of devices hereinafter fully set forth, and particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, partly insection,of a machine for making mattresses embodying our invention andshowing the initial position of the follower when the same is run outfrom the compressing box or compartment. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionalview of the same, showing the followerin its initial position forcompressingthe. lint-cotton. or like material' in the press-box into a bator felt. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the same, showing the follower inposition after having formed the bat or felt and illustrating theoperation of our improved machine in ejecting the felt or bat from thepress-boxwhile under compression and inserting the same into the tick orcovering of the mattress. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the'press-boxof our improved machine for making'mattresses' Fig. 5 is a verticaltransverse sectional view of thesame, taken on the line 56 a; of Fig. 3and showing the follower in the 'same'position as that indicated in thesaid Fig. 3. Fig. dis a detail perspective view of the spout throughwhich the bat or felt is ejected from the press-box under compressionand inserted in the tick or covering of the mattress.

The press-box 1 is of suitable height and construction and correspondsin interior length and width with the required similar dimensions of themattresses for the manufacture of which the machine is adapted. Asherein illustrated and preferably the upper portion and top of thepress-box are of open construction and covered with wire-netting orother foraminous material'2 to admit of the ready escape of air'which isforced into the box with the cotton or other stock through the flue 34.Hinged sections3 constitute the upper portions of the front and rearsides of the press-box. The frontand rear sides 4 5, respectively, ofthe press-boxha've their ends engaged insuitable guideways 6 on theinner sides of the corner-posts 7 of the press-box and are "adapted tomove vertically in said guideways, and said front and rearsides 4 5 areprovided each onits outer side with apair of vertical rack-bars 8. Acrank-shaft 9 is journaled in bearings 10 on the corner-posts of thefront side of the press-box and in the plane of the bottom of thepress-box, and keyed to said shaft are a pair of pinions 11, whichengage said rack-bars 8. A similar crank-shaft 12 is journaled inhearings on the corner-posts on the rear side of the press-box and isprovided with similar pinions 13, which engage the rack-bars on thevertically-movable rear side 5 of said press-box.- Thebottom of thepress-box is formed by an endless conveyor 14, comprising theendlessbelt 15, of suitable material, the transverse slats 16 on thesaid endless belt, and the supporting shafts or rollers 17 18 for saidendless belt, which said supporting shafts or rollers are mounted insuitable bearings with which the press-box is provided. The shaft 18,which is near the front side of the press-box, projects beyond one ofthe side walls of the latter and is provided with a crank 19, by whichsaid shaft may be turned, and with a spurwheel 20. From the foregoing itwill be understood that the bottom of the press-box has a movablesliding surface.

A suitable elevated trackway 21 is supported in any suitable manner,either as here shown in Fig. 1 or otherwise, at the plane coincidentwith the upper portion of the pressbox, and from the said trackway issuspended a follower 22, which has suitable supporting wheels or rollers23, that bear upon the rails of the traekway, and hangers 24, whichdepend from the journals of said follower. The inner ends of thetrack-rails are a sufficient distance from the rear side of thepress-box to permit the rollers at rear side of the follower to clearthe said track-rails when the follower is within the press-box, andincluded in the track-rails are removable sections 21, which arepivotally supported, and when turned at right angles to the track-railsthe openings in the latter previously spanned by the pivoted sections 21permit the front rollers of the follower to pass from the track rails,as will be understood. Any othersuitable means may, however, be employedfor relieving the follower-rollers from the trackrails, and we do notdesire to limit ourselves in this particular. The follower constitutessubstantially a rectangular frame, at the front and rear sides of whichare mounted rollershafts 25 26, which said roller-shafts serve tosupport an endless belt 27, which is similar to the belt 15, that formsa part of the bottom of the press-box and on which are securedtransverse slats 28, which correspond with the slats 16. It follows fromthe above that the follower is provided with a movable or slidingsurface corresponding with that of the bottom of the press-box. To oneend of the rollershaft 25 is keyed a spur-wheel 29, which is adapted tomesh with the wheel 20 on the roller-shaft 18 when the said follower islowered to the position indicated in Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawings. Aspout 30 of suitable dimensions is provided with vertical arms 31 tobear against the cornerposts on the front side of the press-box and withhooks 32, which are adapted to enter suitable mortises 33 in saidcorner-posts, and thereby secure said spout on the front side of thepress-box, with the lower side of said spent on the same horizontalplane as the upper movable side of the bottom of the press-box.

A pneumatic conveyor-flue 3t communicates with the upper side of thepress-box and is adapted to discharge lint-cotton or the like materialfrom a gin or other openinganachiue, together with a large volume ofair, from said gin brush or fan into the said press-box, and saidconveyer-fiue is provided at its discharge end with a hinged spout 35,to which oscillating or rocking motion may be imparted by a crank-shaft36, mounted in suitable bearings 37, and a pitman 38, which connectssaid crank-shaft. to the said rocking spout, the function of the latter,as will be readily understood, being to pneumatically deliver lintcottonor the like material evenly from the front to the rear side of thepress-box as the said hinged spout 35 oscillates or swings.

A suitable table or receiving-platform 39 is located near the front sideof the press-box, at or about the level of the upper side of the bottomthereof, upon which the finished mattress is received as the same isejected from the press-box.

The operation of our invention is as follows: 'When the sides 4: 5 ofthe press-box are run up above the bottom thereof, the hinged uppersections 3 of the front and rear sides of the press-box closed, and thefollower 22 run out from the press-box and suspended from the trackway,as shown in Fig. 1, the machine is in its initial position. A suitablequantity of lint-cotton or the like material is then blown into thepress-box by the means hereinbefore described. The hinged upper sections3 of the front and rear sides of the press-box are then opened, thefollower run into the press-box, disengaged from the supportingtrackway,lowered upon the upper edges of the vertically-movable front and rearsides 4 5 of the press-box, and secured thereto, whereupon thecrank-shafts 19 and 12 are rotated either manually or in any othersuitable manner to cause their pinions, which engage with the rack-barson the vertically-movable front and rear sides of the press-box, to movesaid front and rear sides of the press-box downward and to carry thefollower with them, thereby compressing the material in the press-boxbetween said follower and the bottom of the press-box into a hat or feltof the desired thickness of the mattress, this being predetermined bythe diameters of the spur-wheels 2O 29. WVhen the follower has reachedthe lowermost limit of its vertical movement in the press-box, thespur-wheel 29 becomes engaged with the spur-wheel 20, thereby connectingthe supporting roller-shafts of the bottom of the press-box and thefollower on the front side of the press-box together, and thecrank-shaft 18 being then rotated manually in the direction indicated bythe arrow in Fig. 1 the proximate slatted surfaces of the bottom of thepress-box and the follower are caused to move in unison and in thedirection indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3. The open end of the tick orcovering of the mattress (indicated at 40 in Fig. 3) having been placed011 the spout 30 the bat or felt constituting the filling of themattress while still under compression between the follower and thebottom of the press-box is moved outward and ejected from the press-boxand conveyed into the tick or covering of the mattress, as will bereadily understood,when all that remains to be done to complete themanufacture of the mattress is to sew up the IIO open end of the tick orcovering thereof. Having completed the formation of the mattress, thevertically-movable front and rear sides of the press-box are run up totheir initial position, thereby elevating the follower, the latter isreengaged with and run out upon the trackway, the hinged upper sections3 and the front and rear sides of the press-box are closed as before,and the machine is then in position for making another mattress.

It follows from the foregoing that our improved machine for makingmattresses while being extremely simple in construction, admitting ofits being constructed at slight cost, is highly eflicient, adapted to beoperated either manually or by other power, and is adapted tomanufacture mattresses very rapidly and at slight cost.

While we have hereinbefore described our invention as being adapted formaking mattresses from lint-cotton and the like, it will be understoodthat the same could be used for making mattresses from wool, hair, andother materials as well as from cotton and fibrous substances.

In the .operation of the machine it is sometimes desirable to elevatethe follower in the press-box without running up the front and rearsides 4 5, and to enable the follower to be readily hoisted we providesuitable tackles 0, having hooks b, which are adapted to be engaged withears or eyes 0, with which the follower is provided.

Having thus described our invention, We clain1 1. The combination with apress-box having vertically-movable sides provided with racks, of ashaft in fixed supports having gears engaging said racks, an endlessconveyer forming the bottom of the press-box and having an actuatinggear, and a follower movable with said sides and having an endlessconveyer provided wit-h a gear adapted to engage that of the conveyer inthe bottom of the press-box, when said follower is lowcred,substantially as described.

2. The combination with a press-box, an endless conveyer forming acompressing-surface at the bottom thereof, a vertically-movable followerhaving an endless conveyer forming its compressing-surface, and gearsfor driving said conveyers, said gears being normally outof engagementwith each other and engaging when the follower is lowered, substantiallyas described.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a press-boxhaving a traveling bottom, a discharge-opening on one side thereof, andvertically-movable sides; a vertically-movable follower having thecoacting traveling bottom, means for operating said sides to raise andlower the follower, and gears, engaging when the follower is loweredytoactuate the traveling bottom of said follower and press-box,substantially as described.

4. The combination with a press-box having vertically-movable sides, andmeans to operate them, of a follower carried by said vertically-movablesides, and means for opcrating said follower, substantially asdescribed.

5. The combination, with a press-box, of a vertically-movable followerand means for moving the same, supporting-guides for said followerextending from said press-box, and means for connecting said follower tosaid guides and disconnecting the same therefrom, whereby said followercan be withdrawn from and run into said press-box, substantially asdescribed.

6. In a machine for making mattresses, a press-box having an endlessmovable bottom and having a discharge-spout in line therewith,vertically-movable sides to said pressbox said verticallymovable sideshaving racks, a gear to actuate the endless movable bottom of thepress-box an operating-shaft geared to the racks of thevertically-movable sides, a vertically-movable follower carried by saidvertically-movable sides and having an endless movable bottom and a gearto actuate the same, said gear being adapted to engage theactuating-gear of the endless movable bottom of the press-box when thefollower is lowered, substantially as described.

In testimony that We claim the foregoing as our own we have heretoaflixed oursignatures in the presence of two witnesses.

HORATIO PAXTON DAVISS. NAT FIELDS DAVISS.

Witnesses:

. JAs. M. MoGoRD,

W. G. LANE.

